Using Judgment

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT: Maneuvering Flight

Formation Flying

Since formation flying is routinely performed during aerial photography missions, it’s critical to know the pilot you’re flying alongside. Discuss the flight beforehand and ensure the other pilot is qualified in formation flying. A miscommunication or lack of skill can be deadly. It is not something to be undertaken without training—period. Just because somebody says they are a formation pilot doesn’t make it so. Are you willing to bet your aircraft and possibly your life on someone’s inflated opinion of their own skills?

Buzzing accidents account for many maneuvering accidents, and are entirely preventable.

Buzz Job Gone Wrong

“The pilot of a Beech 23 flew over his friend’s house and the friend watched from the ground and waved. The pilot rocked the airplane’s wings and buzzed the house. During the second circuit, the airplane quickly banked left and rolled out on a southerly heading. It began to descend and the engine revved to full power. The airplane kept losing altitude, then pitched up 10 degrees. It cleared the house by 25 to 30 feet and struck a tree at 50 to 60 mph. There was a 5 to 15 knot tailwind at the time.”

Buzzing

Flying low over a friend’s house to show off your outstanding piloting skills is never a good idea. Momentary lapses in judgment have proven fatal for many pilots. Buzzing accidents account for many maneuvering accidents, and are entirely preventable. At altitudes below 1,000 agl, no amount of skill will allow recovery from a spin, so prevention means not engaging in such stunts in the first place.

Aerial Work

Photography, pipeline patrol, banner towing, and crop dusting activities require significant division of attention at low altitudes. Pilots performing aerial work are generally highly qualified and use excellent judgment. But if something goes wrong, there is little time to recover. Equipment malfunction and failure to follow established procedures are the most common causal factors.

Trying to out climb rising terrain usually proves futile. Avoid the situation in the first place by not flying below canyon rims.

Banner Tow Miscalculation

“The pilot had made two successful banner tows before the accident occurred. On the third banner tow, the hook missed the banner rope and grabbed one of the pick-up poles instead. The pilot tried to keep the aircraft and attached pole over the airport to minimize the possibility of property damage or injury to people on the ground if the pole broke free. The pilot tried to stay within the airport boundary and he entered a climbing left turn. He added too much left rudder and entered a spin. Altitude at this point was approximately 300’ agl. He attempted to recover but the airplane impacted the runway in a 30 degree nose-low attitude.”

Canyon Flying

Experienced mountain pilots are trained to fly in those unique conditions, and are also familiar with the terrain in which they fly, making sure they always have an out. Following a river at low altitude, with terrain on either side, is a dangerous situation. Rivers turn and surprises can always be found around the next bend: wires, hills, rising terrain, another aircraft—the possibilities are endless. If your airplane is not capable of making a 180-degree turn within the confines of the canyon walls, don’t go there. Trying to out climb rising terrain usually proves futile. Avoid the situation in the first place by not flying below canyon rims.

Pilot Safety Announcement: School Daze

Don’t sleep through ground school, because what you don’t know about maneuvering flight can hurt you. Watch an interesting flight lesson.